According to the Old Farmer’s Almanac, winter in Bellingham and the Puget Sound region starts on December 1 and continues through late February. In recent years, though, Bellingham residents have begun feeling the winter chill as early as mid-November, which is a good reminder to prepare for the holidays and the heating season. As the temperature drops, your household demand for electricity increases, thus pushing your circuits and breaker panel to their limits.
At Marr's Heating, AC, Plumbing and Electrical, we frequently get questions from Bellingham homeowners asking when the best time is to upgrade their electrical panels. Scheduling an upgrade for the winter makes sense for the following reasons.
The Winter Surge of Electricity Demand and Usage
Electrical peak-load scenarios are common in the winter. Beyond strings of holiday lights and decorations, Bellingham households draw more electricity through various seasonal activities. Many family and social gatherings from Thanksgiving through New Year’s Day are underscored by culinary marathons involving the heavy use of ovens, ranges, mixers, and air fryers. Heat pumps and electric sources of supplemental heating work harder to generate warmth and comfort. Electric vehicle-charging stations are used more frequently to maintain optimal winter driving range. We also get earlier sunsets, thus increasing lighting loads by a few hours.
The surge of holiday activities and their effect on your home circuits is not limited to drawing more power; it also puts your electrical panel to the test with regard to simultaneous load capacity. When you prepare elaborate holiday dinners, your electrical system handles multiple loads for various appliances; in some situations, it must juggle a 50-amp electric range and oven, a dishwasher, microwave, mixer, and kitchen countertop gadgets, like air fryers. If your home is still running on an older 100-amp or 125-amp panel, holiday cooking marathons can easily push the total demand close to the panel’s maximum capacity.
When our electricians conduct residential circuit inspections in Bellingham, they often find electrical panels with inadequate capacity ratings to handle heat pumps and EV charging stations. This happens when you install new systems that require new dedicated circuits managed by old panels. Although cold-climate heat pumps are extremely efficient, they can still draw up to 20,000 watts during a cold snap. If you roast a turkey in the oven while the dryer and heat pump are running, an older 100-amp circuit would be strained and overwhelmed.
Modern Electrical Panel Demand and Capacity
When the bus bars inside an aging electrical panel are forced to handle near-peak capacity for hours on end, they generate heat. The bars feature rigid metal strips that distribute high voltage loads to efficiently distribute currents from the service switch to the breakers and respective circuits. Their conductive materials and structures absorb and dissipate heat; however, higher demand increases heat and degrades wire insulation. Over time, electrical panels with inadequate capacities cause breakers to trip more frequently, particularly during the winter.
This capacity issue is a primary reason for upgrading your panel. The standard 100-amp residential panel is no longer sufficient for many households. This is easier to understand if you think about the panel as a highway system, whereby the amperage represents available lanes for electrical appliances and systems. Installing a dedicated 40-amp circuit for a heat pump and a 50-amp circuit for an EV charger is like trying to squeeze large trucks into a two-lane road. The resulting traffic jam consists of excessive electrical currents overheating the bus bars.
Continuing with our highway analogy, you can think of panel upgrades as construction projects that add more lanes with sufficient capacity to handle increased traffic. This allows you to run multiple appliances and systems simultaneously, without causing an electricity gridlock that can ultimately turn critical and cause safety issues.
Winter Electrical Panel Upgrades
While some homeowners call Marr's Heating, AC, Plumbing and Electrical to have our electricians put in an upgraded panel in their home, there are many other Bellingham homeowners, who need a newer panel, too, but can use their subscription to our Advantage Plan for annual maintenance and to get any upgrades they need. The Advantage Plan covers HVAC, plumbing, and electrical systems, so many customers schedule maintenance calls in the fall to prepare their heating systems and ensure they will not have to deal with frozen pipe issues. We test the condition of your electrical system, including the wiring, connectors, and breaker panels, to determine if your circuits can handle winter electricity demands.
Our inspections often reveal “red flags” you might miss until having to deal with winter electrical issues and outages. In neighborhoods with older homes, like Fairhaven, our electricians check for corrosion on the bus bars or breaker lugs. This issue is caused by humidity; it is more common in older panels located in unheated garages or basements. Double-tapped breakers involve two wires connected to a single-pole breaker; this is an old shortcut that causes overheating when both lines are active in the winter.
We also recommend upgrades upon noticing brittle or scorched wire insulation on circuits managed by old GTE-Sylvania breakers mounted on Federal Pacific panels. These are deprecated and obsolete brands with low material ratings incompatible with modern electrical safety codes. Our upgrade recommendations are not only for convenience; we also want customers to live in safe homes without the risk of outages, short circuits, and fires. Some customers want to install new HVAC systems, EV chargers, backup generators, or whole-home surge protectors that require panel upgrades.
Electrical Panel Upgrade Options for Your Bellingham Home
Marr's Heating, AC, Plumbing and Electrical works with the Square D Homeline series of residential panels. The Homeline series is ideal for balancing high-performance reliability with long-term value for Bellingham homeowners. With this 200-amp panel upgrade, your home gets robust capacity for current and next-generation electrical systems. Other panel brands we install include AD, Schneider Electric, and Siemens.
Square D Homeline panels feature plug-in neutral technology to reduce wiring clutter; they allow electricians to connect breakers directly to the neutral bar for a more organized panel for easier troubleshooting and repairs. You also get superior surge protection to protect against voltage spikes caused by thunderstorms and grid fluctuations. This feature improves the safety of expensive appliances and electronics.
With up to 40 breaker spaces to handle 80 circuits, a 200-amp Homeline panel offers the ample capacity required for modern electrical systems like Level 2 EV chargers and high-efficiency heat pumps. Beyond these crucial safety and capacity aspects, upgrading your panel is a wise investment to boost property value, equity, and marketability. In today’s real estate market, adequate electrification is a major selling point. Appraisers, home inspectors, and real estate agents consider 200-amp panels as significant upgrades that meet and exceed national and municipal electrical safety codes. Prospective homebuyers in the Puget Sound are increasingly searching for homes that can support EV chargers, solar panels, and backup generators, thus making panel upgrades more enticing.
Schedule an Electrical Panel Upgrade Consultation Today
Scheduling a panel upgrade in the winter can help you avoid the spring rush of home improvement projects. Our electricians are busier in the fall and spring, so booking in the winter gives you more scheduling flexibility. Weather conditions are not a problem because most of the work happens indoors.
Beyond panel upgrades, Marr's Heating, AC, Plumbing and Electrical provides comprehensive electrical installation, maintenance, and repair services. To learn more about winter electrical panel upgrades in Bellingham, contact Marr's Heating, AC, Plumbing and Electrical today.
